Nice find. What I would be more interested to find out is how it compares to tests that are presently being given to 8th graders. It might be difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison though. I don't seem to recall having an actual final exam in 8th grade.
I don't think I did, but Texas has something equivalent: the TAKS test. I doubt actual copies are available, but the social studies practice test is at:
It had only one history question. The rest were reading comprehension questions that anyone with fairly basic English and logic skills should be able to answer.
I'm not a fan of memorization. But it seems plausible to argue that contemporary education hasn't added anything very challenging in it's place.
Holy cow. I took that test (it was called TAAS back then) and was basically just an easy day in school. It was nowhere near as tough as some of those questions look.
